“Archers,” one of the captains called out. “Flame arrows!”

Upon his command, dozens of burning arrows flew through the sky. Some of the volley hit the incoming enemy while most of them struck the ground to illuminate the empty field in front of the ramparts. The mercenaries and refugees formed a line, ready to go to battle upon command. Regis held his copper infused staff in his hands, heart beating faster by the moment. When the shambling corpses were about fifteen meters away from the line of fighters, the sound of a horn broke the tension.

“Charge!” The defenders yelled as one as they began to move forward.

Regis followed their example, but lagged behind a bit. He watched as the two sides crashed together, swinging whatever they had in their hands. The undead moved faster than he expected. They weren’t as agile as the living, but they were faster than he imagined them to be. It was also worth to mention that they didn’t flinch at all when injured. His first opponent was a wolf like beast with half of its ribs visible through a large gash in its side. He swung his bladed staff at the creature, leaving a large cut near its stomach on the other side, but the monster didn’t even slow down as it jumped at him again after its failed attack.

The elven youth dodged aside, trying to behead the creature, but the copper blade got stuck in its spine, stopping halfway through. The wolf threw itself at the young man, making him trip and fall on the ground. His hands shook as he held the staff away with the rotting beast trying to take a bite out of him. As he kicked it off, he scrambled onto his feet to take another swing at it. This time he used all of his strength during the attack and succeeded in cutting through its spine and at least half of its neck. Even after the creature collapsed on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut, its eye sockets were still burning with the green flames as it flailed around. Regis stabbed the blade through the thing’s ear, pushing it as deep as he could until the flames died out. His breath was ragged and his arms shook nonstop as he stared at the corpse. Before he could straighten up however, his eyes caught a soldier shambling towards him. In the darkness of the night most people would have thought that an injured man came toward them, but he could clearly see the arrows that stuck out from its chest.

The walking corpse carried a sword and took a swing at him the moment it was close enough. He tried to deflect the strike and his hands got pushed back. Another swing came at him followed by a third. The rotting soldier’s aim was slightly off, but it still scratched his left arm guard. A small line got carved into his armour and his forearm stung with numbness, but the rest of his body worked just fine. He struck at the corpse’s knee, breaking it inwards. With its leg bending the other way, the shambling creature fell towards the ground and a thick blade ran pierced its head a moment after it hit the ground. The youth’s breath was even more haggard than before as he tried and failed to pull the blade from the skull of the dead infantryman in one move.

Around him, the rest of the people had also finished off whatever came at them, leaving the battlefield bereft of enemies for the time being as the first wave ended. He looked around once more before he tore his weapon out from the carcass, taking a quick look at it using his charlatan’s wisdom spell.

{Soulbound sunstone bladestaff}

{Item rarity: ???}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Greater enchantments: 2}

{Lesser enchantments: 0}

{Durability: 102/110}

{Damage: ???}

After harvesting the Amaranth from his kills in the form of slightly larger green shards, the youth tried to quickly examine the corpse of the wolf using charlatan’s wisdom on it.

{Fallen Wolf}

{Level: 3}

{Attributes}

Allure: 2 Deftness: 7 Erudition: 2 Luck: 3 Might: 4 Mind: 2 Physique: 4 Spirit: 2 Willpower: 2

{A wild beast brought back from the dead through the lingering power of foul magic. Its original attributes had been halved after becoming an undead.}

Seeing the undead creature’s stats and the small notes that they were supposed to be twice as much when it was still alive, he began to wonder just how deadly the wolves of this world could be. Using what little time he had, he checked the dead soldier as well.

{Fallen Infantryman}

{Level: 3}

{Attributes}

Allure: 5 Deftness: 6 Erudition: 6 Luck: 5 Might: 7 Mind: 4 Physique: 8 Spirit: 4 Willpower: 6

{This infantryman of unknown origins was brought back from the dead through the lingering power of foul magic. Its original attributes had been halved after becoming an undead.}

Once he read the description of his enemy’s capabilities, the dark elf stripped the carcass of its armour, earning quite a few stares.

“Look at that burrow rat,” one of the mercenaries cursed. “It can’t even wait till the battle ends. Filthy scavenger."

Many similar words followed, but he only stared at his gains as he identified their stats.

{Simple leather tasset (worn}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 57/100}

{Armor type: medium}

{Armor value: 7/15)}

He put on the skirt like armour piece that would now protect his waist and a part of his upper tights. The other two pieces looked like his arm guards, but larger.

{Simple leather greaves (worn)}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 61/100}

{Armor type: medium}

{Armor value: 7/12}

With the new leg armour pieces in his wardrobe, he turned back to the carcass, but the rest of the infantryman’s clothes were beyond salvageable and its boots were surprisingly smaller than his size. Several arrows were sticking out of the corpse, the front ones broken by the fall. He grabbed one on its back, yanking it out with a single move. ‘These should still be usable.’ He thought as he retrieved two more. There were five in total, but the other two were snapped in the middle. Regis twisted the arrow heads, collecting another four after he overturned the corpse. The arrowheads got wiped clean and then stuffed into a small pouch he found under the corpse’s shredded linen gambeson. Not having the time to check it for coins, he just hid it beneath his own armour. The badly damaged sword was wiped clean on the corpse’s clothes before returning to the sheath he took from the body.

“Get ready!” Someone yelled as another wave of monsters shambled out of the wall of fog.

This time however, there were far more than before. The small greenish flames in their eyes spread through the darkness.

“Well, shit.” Shiro sighed as he dropped the sword and got ready for the next round.

The moment the shambling corpses reached into fighting distance, everyone moved as one. Regis leapt sideways, dodging to the right when a sudden swing was aimed at his waist. The chipped bronze blade’s tip ran along his tasset, leaving an inch long cut on the armour piece before drawing blood at the last moment. He hissed as he pulled further away, smashing the rotting soldier in the knee. It worked just as well as before. His enemy stumbled and he took the chance to swing at its sword hand. The undead dropped its weapon as it went tumbling on the ground. Regis then switched weapon forms and bashed it in the back of its head, finishing it immediately. He had no time to breathe up as he hastily raised his staff to deflect an incoming attack.

It was lucky that he had the chance to see a few other halberd and staff users fight. Combining that with whatever practice he had before in the sewers gave him some semblance of how a proper staff stance and parry looked like. Although he tried to block it properly, the force of the strike still sent him stumbling backwards a bit. His new opponent tried its best to swing its sword at him, giving him a long practice session and a hard earned victory. Moments later a new opponent shambled in his direction with badly mutilated legs, but it proved too slow to be of a real threat. After destroying its already torn legs with a strong sweeping attack, he switched to bladestaff form and stabbed the flames out his downed enemy’s eyes. The familiar warm current flowed through his body while the Heart shed light at its reason with flickering golden words.

{You have fought and slain 5 enemies with a staff. Your understanding of it has reached new heights. You have gained the ‘Staves’ skill line. You are now a beginner at wielding this weapon type and its sub forms. You have gained the 'Beginner staff wielder' title.}

{You have kept swinging your staff with all your might, slaying 5 foes and thus gained the ‘Heavy Strike’ skill.}

As the glowing words burned through the air, he held his bladestaff with a newfound firmness and his stance became more stable. Regis looked at his next target that held an axe as it jumped towards him. This particular enemy felt different as it moved with more vigour than those before. Its body wasn’t as rotten as the others and the flame in its eyes were blue instead of green. It let out a blood chilling roar after the second missed axe swing and the azure haired youth felt that his body suddenly turned sluggish before it seemingly froze into place. This feeling of rigidity caused cold sweat to appear all over his body as he watched as the rotting warrior’s greenish bronze axe fell at him.

‘Move damn you!’ He thought as the veins in his eyes bulged. His body let out a creaking noise as he dove under the incoming attack.

{You have pushed through the constraint that paralyzed you. The ‘Intimidating roar’ was negated. Your Willpower permanently increased by 1.}

“I’m not scared of you, so fuck off!” He roared back at the creature, swinging his staff at it.

He pushed his will into that attack, activating his so-called heavy strike skill. A faint red light ran along the blade’s edge as it cut deep into the undead’s forearm. The axe fell on the ground but the abomination drew a dagger with its other hand, stabbing the dark elf’s left shoulder with it.

“I’ve said fuck off!” He yelled with bloodshot eyes as he smashed the blunt end of his staff into the rotting enemy’s skull in a backswing that was followed by a low boom as he crashed into the shambler with a shoulder charge.

It was tackled on the ground before a barrage of staff strikes came at its head.

“Die you ugly piece of...”

“Regis, stop!” A hand grabbed him from behind to pull him away from the pulp headed carcass.

When he turned around with a blood red gaze, a slap made him step back.

“You’ve killed it,” Norma called out to him. “You’re safe now, so snap out of it!”

“Norma?” He asked confused as he felt a moment of weakness send him on his knees.

“When I saw that you got into trouble, I tried to get to you in time. I didn’t expect you to go into a frenzy and butcher that thing. Now breathe! The next wave will be here soon. Get behind the guards if you can’t go on.”

“I’m okay,” Regis wheezed. “I just need a moment to rest.”

“It’s all right,” another guard spoke up. “You're doing great, boy. Just get your loot and get behind the line. Let us take care of the next wave.”

Hearing that, most refugees and mercenaries quickly began searching through their fallen foes before switching places with the guardsmen. Regis tried to move as well, but he still felt dizzy. As the youth checked his body, he saw that all of his cuts had closed halfway already. Not a single drop of blood appeared from his wounds now. He took a deep breath and gathered any Amaranth he earned before he knelt beside the carcasses to search them. The Infantryman and the swordsman earned him a pair of damaged bronze swords. He also took their leather forearm guards and greaves. The swordsman even got him a new piece of armour.

{Simple leather cuisse (scratched)}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 76/100}

{Armour type: medium}

{Armour value: 7/10}

With this new piece protecting his lower thighs beneath the skirt like armour, his legs were now safe. He also took their coin pouches, emptying what little they held into his own. As he glanced at the torn pants of the warrior, he noticed that the boots were in a relative good condition. Using charlatan’s wisdom, he confirmed them to be useable.

{Simple leather boots (scratched)}

{Item rarity: common}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Durability: 79/100}

{Armour type: medium}

{Armour value: 5/7}

He pulled them off to compare them to his feet and they were only a few sizes larger than his own. With cloth wraps covering his feet, it became a decent fit. While stripping the corpse, Regis tried to identify it.

{Fallen Swordsman}

{Level: 4}

{Attributes}

Allure: 6 Deftness: 7 Erudition: 6 Luck: 6 Might: 7 Mind: 6 Physique: 8 Spirit: 4 Willpower: 6

{This swordsman of unknown origins was brought back from the dead through the lingering power of foul magic. Its original attributes had been halved by becoming an undead.}

Regis quickly took away the brutish corpse’s knife and its sheath as well, gathering his thoughts before identifying the corpse.

{Fallen Berserker}

{Level: 5}

{Attributes}

Allure: 4 Deftness: 6 Erudition: 3 Luck: 5 Might: 11 Mind: 4 Physique: 10 Spirit: 6 Willpower: 7

{This berserker of unknown origins was brought back from the dead through the lingering power of foul magic. Its original attributes had been halved by becoming an undead. It retained some of its capability of using its ingrained special skills.}

The berserker had no armour on its chest, only a tasset protected its waist. There was no coin pouch on its belt, but Regis noticed something hanging from the rotten warrior's neck, covered by its muddy hair. It was a leather string with a few carved bones and claws hanging from it. The large bone piece in the middle had a red stone in it. As he identified it, instead of the usual white lettered description, pale green words flickered in front of his eyes, similar to his staff’s.

{Intimidating berserker talisman}

{Item rarity: ???}

{Item quality: ordinary}

{Granted skill: ???}

{Attribute bonus: ???}

‘It looks like my identifying spell can’t reveal most of its information about it, but it sure as hell a magic item’ He thought as he put on the necklace and hid it beneath his armour before he took a look at his opponent’s weapon. The axe proved to be an ordinary piece as well. It was cast entirely from bronze, its shaft heavy and solid while its head wide and sharp. The weapon was placed on the bundle of loot before he tied it together with one of the corpses’ belt. After collecting his spoils, he dragged the bundle towards the wooden rampart.

“Just put your stuff over there,” Norma pointed to her group’s spot. “No one will take a thing. Now rest a little! The third larger wave should come soon.”

Regis nodded at the idea before stashing his loot and dragging his knapsack next to it. He sat down on the ground, breathing heavily. Norma might have got him back to his senses, but he was still puzzled by what happened to him. Wounds did not just heal themselves and he sure as hell didn’t have any regeneration related traits. ‘It would be easier if I had a battle log. I want to know what that axe swinging freak earned me.’ His complaint earned him a buzzing in his head as golden words flowed through his aching eyes.

{You have pushed yourself beyond your limits, fighting against the odds. Your blood is boiling with power. Your physique got permanently increased by 1, raising your health and stamina by 1. Your ‘minor’ bleeding had stopped.}

‘Stay the fuck out of my head!’ He cursed at the Heart for fulfilling his request through the sudden intrusion.